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The media is often blamed for having an East Coast Bias when it comes to sports. The news that the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees have retaken the lead in this week's MLB Power Rankings will do nothing to kill those feelings. It's also not going to help accusations that we all love the American League East either.
As the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies stay relatively stuck in the mud in relation to each other, they fall further behind the Rays and Yankees. The Minnesota Twins had a tough week in Texas as well, losing three of four to the Rangers and falling to fourth in these rankings.
The Cincinnati Reds are putting some distance between themselves and the St. Louis Cardinals. They are five games ahead of the Redbirds, not so much because they had a spectacular week, but because St. Louis lost two of three to Pittsburgh and three of four to Washington.
Even the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants had mediocre weeks. Are the National League front-runners really as stagnant at the moment as they seem?
- 1. Rays | Record: 80-50 | Previous Week: 3
Whenever the Rays think about finding a replacement for Dan Johnson, they should probably remind themselves that they play the Red Sox 18 times a season. Three of his four career homers as a member of the Rays have come against the Sox and two of them have had major impact, including Saturday's walk-off shot. - Josh Alper - 2. Yankees | Record: 80-50 | Previous Week: 4
Every season needs a few unlikely heroes, and the Yankees find themselves very thankful for Marcus Thames and Eduardo Nunez right now. Thames has five homers in his last four starts and Nunez hit .316 with a home run this week as the Yankees stayed equal with the Rays without Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez and, for most of the weekend, Mark Teixeira. - Josh Alper - 3. Reds | Record: 75-55 | Previous Week: 7
The Reds have saved their best baseball for crunch time and as August wanes, their five-game lead has them tied with the Padres for the biggest divisional lead in the National League. They're also just 1 1/2 games behind the Friars for the Senior Circuit's best record. Since their sweep at the hands of the Cardinals, they're 11-4. With a three-game set in St. Louis, a good week could see them more or less wrapping up the division. - Pat Lackey - 4. Twins | Record: 75-56 | Previous Week: 1
Manager Ron Gardenhire plans to give the pitching rotation some extra rest for the remainder of the season. That is if everything works out just right. If Kevin Slowey can return from the disabled list when he's eligible to come off, the Twins may just use a six-man rotation for the rest of the year. Slowey left his last start with forearm pain, but an MRI showed no damage. - 5. Phillies | Record: 73-57 | Previous Week: 2
It looks like if Philadelphia reaches the playoffs, its first-round opponent would be San Diego or Cincinnati. The Phillies are 5-2 against both those teams this year -- with six straight wins at the Padres' Petco Park (11-2 there since 2007). - Ed Price - 6. Braves | Record: 75-55 | Previous Week: 5
Omar Infante, whose selection to the All-Star Game was widely mocked, has a .341 average that would lead the NL if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. Infante needs 142 plate appearances in Atlanta's final 32 games to be in the running for the batting title. - Ed Price - 7. Padres | Record: 76-53 | Previous Week: 6
They sent out their best three starting pitchers against the Phillies and got good work from all three, but Philadelphia allowed only three runs in the 30 innings and swept the three-game series in San Diego. Next up are the last-place Diamondbacks in Phoenix, where the Padres dropped a series earlier this month. General manager Jed Hoyer described the September schedule as "brutal,"and that was before injuries to role players frayed the team's talent margins. Even with a five-game lead and the National League's best record, the Padres aren't home free just yet. - Tom Krasovic - 8. Cardinals | Record: 69-59 | Previous Week: 8
In contrast to the Reds, the Cards are playing some of their worst baseball of the season right now. They dropped five of seven to the Pirates and Nationals this week, which is something a team in a playoff race can ill afford. They have to right themselves before the Reds come to town this weekend or their five-game division deficit and three-game wild-card deficit may become something insurmountable. - Pat Lackey - 9. Giants | Record: 72-59 | Previous Week: 9
While the pitching continues to struggle, they seem to find a new hot hitter every week. Add Freddy Sanchez to the hitting bandwagon now. Sanchez went 15-for-24 last week, lifting his average 26 points, from .261 to .287. - Jeff Fletcher - 10. Red Sox | Record: 74-57 | Previous Week: 10
John Lackey allowed five runs in 6 1/3 innings on Sunday and said afterward that he thought he threw the ball about as good as he has in years. That can't make anyone in Boston feel too hot about the fact that he's signed for four more seasons. Adrian Beltre, on the other hand, is a free agent after just one year with the Sox. It's like the baseball equivalent of two babies getting switched in the hospital nursery. - Josh Alper - 11. Blue Jays | Record: 68-62 | Previous Week: 12
Brandon Morrow will only pitch once more this season, but he's already done enough to restore some shine to the prospect status that got tarnished in Seattle. His August, with 49 strikeouts and 10 walks in 30 1/3 innings, is the kind of month that will have everyone in Toronto eagerly anticipating his 2011 campaign. - Josh Alper - 12. White Sox | Record: 70-60 | Previous Week: 13
The White Sox have lost 13 of their last 20 games and adding Manny Ramirez may not be the answer. The Sox are scoring 5.2 runs per game in the month of August and hitting well above .300. But there are three pitchers in the rotation that have ERAs well above 4.00 in August. So, unless Ramirez has a few innings in his pitching arm, he's likely not going to make the difference most people expect. - 13. Rangers | Record: 73-57 | Previous Week: 11
Nelson Cruz came off of the disabled list on Monday and joined the Rangers lineup. This is good news for a team that only scored nine runs over the weekend and averaged a little more than 3.5 runs per game over the last week. - 14. Rockies | Record: 68-61 | Previous Week: 14
Manager Jim Tracy admitted that ace hurler Ubaldo Jimenez gets treated differently on the mound than the other pitchers in the rotation. He's the No. 1 starter and has a long leash, but it's only partly the reason why Jimenez goes deeper into ballgames. The other reason is the bullpen is thin and Tracy knows there isn't a pitcher in the 'pen better than Jimenez. - 15. Marlins | Record: 65-64 | Previous Week: 16
Josh Johnson has now departed a game in position to win and seen the Marlins bullpen blow it six times, the most of any big-league starter. Johnson is tied for the lead in no-decisions (11) and tied for the NL lead in quality starts (22) with Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Tim Hudson. - Ed Price - 16. Tigers | Record: 65-66 | Previous Week: 21
The pitching rotation for the Tigers has been bad enough that major changes are being made. Rick Porcello is tinkering with a new pitch -- a cutter-slider -- and is getting great results. Manager Jim Leyland is also considering moving his best reliever, Phil Coke, into the rotation. - 17. Astros | Record: 59-71 | Previous Week: 22
The Astros' late-season resurgence has them playing the unexpected role of spoiler. They took four games from the Phillies last week to keep their wild-card lead in the "tenuous" category and now they have three lined up against the floundering Cardinals this week. The Phils and Cards both played their own role in Houston's 0-8 start and now the 'Stros are getting their payback at the worst time possible for the contending clubs. - Pat Lackey - 18. Mets | Record: 65-65 | Previous Week: 20
The Mets have held the opposition to fewer than two runs 34 times, tied with Padres for most in the majors. Problem: When the Mets allow more than one run, they are 33-63. - Ed Price - 19. Brewers | Record: 62-68 | Previous Week: 17
The Brewers beating the Pirates belongs right up there with death and taxes. The Crew went 13-5 against the Bucs this year and are 33-11 against them over the last three. This year they put up a whopping 125 runs in 18 games against the Pirates and closed out their season series with a sweep in which the Pirates blew leads in all three games. - Pat Lackey - 20. Athletics | Record: 65-64 | Previous Week: 18
The A's are a game over .500, which means they are probably going to lose their next game. This season the A's have been at .500 25 times, which is a franchise record. They haven't been more than two games over or three games under in the past two months. - Jeff Fletcher - 21. Orioles | Record: 48-83 | Previous Week: 23
The start of the Buck Showalter era couldn't have gone much better for the Orioles. They are guaranteed to have their first winning August in 13 years, a necessary step on the road back to respectability. Taking more steps will require the growth of their young hitters, something that hasn't happened with the installation of Showalter in the dugout. Put that on the top of the to-do list for September. - Josh Alper - 22. Dodgers | Record: 67-64 | Previous Week: 15
Manny Ramirez is going to be gone, but the Dodgers shouldn't miss him much. They barely had him this year. He was on the disabled list three times. He had started just five games since the All-Star break, going 2-for-10 since ending his most recent DL stint. He hadn't homered since June 19. - Jeff Fletcher - 23. Royals | Record: 55-75 | Previous Week: 24
Billy Butler sat out a few games last week to settle some inflammation in his right hand. Apparently, after starting the season batting .340 for the first two months of the season and then cooling off by more than 60 points, Butler played the month of August in pain. That's sure to sap power from a kid who ranks 10th in baseball with 36 doubles this season. - 24. Indians | Record: 53-77 | Previous Week: 26
After winning just four of their last 18 games this month, the Indians won three in a row before dropping the final game of their weekend series to Kansas City. The Tribe must deal with the White Sox for three games before getting a break as they hit the West Coast for a seven-game road trip at Seattle and Los Angeles. - 25. Angels | Record: 63-68 | Previous Week: 19
The Scioscias no longer are relevant on the field, but they are interesting off of it. They've gone 26 innings without scoring a run and managed to go 0-6 against the last-place Orioles this year, so it's time to look ahead to the offseason. How does this franchise get back on track? Send suggestions to Anaheim. Feel free to mention Carl Crawford. - Tom Krasovic - 26. Diamondbacks | Record: 52-79 | Previous Week: 28
Injured ace Brandon Webb said that he hopes to sign an incentive-laden contract in the offseason and that he hopes it's with Arizona. That's music to the ears of Diamondbacks fans who haven't gotten to see him throw in a major league game all year. Webb says he may be ready for a few relief sessions within the next two or three weeks. - 27. Nationals | Record: 56-75 | Previous Week: 25
Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is one of four players to rank in the NL's top 10 in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and the other three are all first basemen: Joey Votto, Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. Zimmerman is also in the top 10 in batting and homers. - Ed Price - 28. Mariners | Record: 51-79 | Previous Week: 27
After the league digested what happened in Washington -- specifically the injury to Stephen Strasburg -- some teams began shutting down their pitching prospects earlier than expected. Case in point is the Seattle Mariners and their No. 1 mound prospect Michael Pineda. The 21-year-old Pineda was south of the 140-inning mark, but the M's said no more. He is expected to have a good shot at making the rotation in 2011. - 29. Cubs | Record: 55-76 | Previous Week: 29
It's not all doom and gloom for the Cubs right now; Carlos Zambrano has pitched well since returning to the rotation in mid-August (a 2.25 ERA in four starts, though a scary K/BB ratio that's below 1 and may not bode well for the future) and the process of interviewing Lou Piniella's replacement has begun. That means it's almost time for the Cubs to put this ugly season behind them and focus on 2011. - Pat Lackey - 30. Pirates | Record: 43-87 | Previous Week: 30
How many games can this club lose? With two games left in August, they've got seven wins total on the month. They've only won 22 times since June 1. Can they be baseball's first 110-game losers since the Diamondbacks in 2004? Can they break the modern franchise record for losses, set by the abysmal 112-loss 1952 Pirates? Don't bet against them at this point. - Pat Lackey
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